


Why does everything have to be purple?

by Ohm



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-07 11:06:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16852864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohm/pseuds/Ohm
Summary: Laura Miller is an Australian Wilderness Response Paramedic or she was. Waking up 800 years in the future and in a different galaxy has put her employment status in question. As she tries to survive on an alien planet where the wildlife seems even more hostile than back home, she is finally found by our resident pathfinder and meets the charming and positive Liam Kosta, who seems to be the exact opposite of her. Let's watch as their relationship goes from 'oh god, how are you so positive?' to 'thank you for being so positive.'So I'm not a writer, as I am about to make abundantly clear, but I thought I'd try my hand at it. This is basically a brainchild that demanded to be born during a bout of insomnia. I'll update as I feel like it, I think, but I promise nothing. Encouragement will prompt me to get a move on though.





	1. The Colour Purple Sucks

Smell is what came first. It should have been hearing but there wasn’t any sound. The smell though. It was like mould. Like you’d left a freezer in storage without making sure it was completely dry on the inside. It clung to the back of my throat and coated my dry tongue. Sucking on my teeth and trying to get some moisture down my throat, touch came next. I was vaguely aware that I was laying down on a squishy surface of some kind. Not like a mattress but like the bit of a mousepad that you rest your wrist on. Kind of giving but not really. Sight came next.

As I tried to move my fingers to grasp onto the gel thing beneath me, I cracked my eyes open. At least, I thought I did. It felt like I did. Everything was pitch black though. I kept trying to move my fingers. They felt stiff and cold. I tried to turn my head but that too wasn’t cooperating. I should have been panicking but I was too sluggish and felt rather numb. It was probably the cold.

I lay there for what could have been minutes or hours. Without light, I had no way to tell the passage of time. It could have been days, I might have fallen back asleep. When I finally came to with a bit more awareness, my fingers could move again and I could turn my head with little difficulty and a mild discomfort. It was still dark. It was still quiet. My mouth was still dry and I was still a little chilly.

I lifted my right hand and felt an odd tug and something sitting on my forearm. Trying my left hand, I got the same feeling but in my elbow. I ignore it and continue lifting my arms, trying to feel something. The backs of my hands hit something smooth and cool. Lightly scratching it, I lifted my hands higher and higher, them going above my head until I felt a crack or divet in the smoothness. I kept reaching higher, but it was all the same.

With a growing panic, I keep reaching around me, feeling the same thing on all sides of me. I was vaguely aware of my rapid breathing but at that moment, I didn’t care. I could feel thin pieces of plastic hitting me every now and again but I paid them no mind. With a deep breath, I tried to scream. All I managed to do was let out a dry cough that stole my breath from me, increasing my panic. I kept scratching and coughing and panting. I can’t see anything. I can’t hear anything. I’m cold, thirsty and can’t breathe.

‘I’m dying’ I think to myself.

That’s when the best thing happens. In my panicked writhing, I kick something, something that juts out of the floor. I fall still, a slight tremble in my body as I frantically move my foot around the thing. It’s about 6 inches wide, metal, round and connected to the floor on either side. I press down on it, desperate for it to move, to do anything. With a squeak, it gives slightly. I cry out quietly and press harder. It doesn’t move.

“No, no, no!” I try to shout but it comes out in a raspy whisper. “Come on! Do something!” I press down with both feet and it gives a little bit more. “Yes!”  
Reaching out to either side of myself, I hold onto the walls and lift my knees before slamming them down onto the tube. With a crack, it gives way, hits the floor and finally, finally I can see. I start laughing. I don’t know why. I was just so happy to be able to see. There’s a thin sliver of light coming in from what I can now see is a seam all around me. Bringing my arms back, I reach forward and push.

Still laughing, tears leak down the sides of my face and I see the sky. I can see the sky and trees and clouds. I keep still, panting from pushing the heavy lid off, tears dripping onto the mattress beneath me. My happiness of escaping from the confining space took a moment to wear off but it completely disappeared and was replaced with confusion when I noticed something. The trees were… purple?

As my panting dies down, I reach to the sides of the bed container thing I was in to pull myself into a sitting position. I make it about halfway when I feel that odd tugging sensation in my hand and elbow. Looking down at them, I’m horrified to see thin plastic tubes going under my skin. No needle or port, just straight into my skin.

“What the fuck?” I rasp quietly to myself as I sit up and lightly tug at them. The skin around them looks fused to the plastic. “What the fuck?” I hiss as I pull a little harder. They’re really stuck in their. The tears are falling again but this time out of frustration. What was going on?

As I sit there and think, I realise that I can hear. I can hear a lot. Looking up, I freeze. It’s not just the trees. It’s everything. Everything is purple. Swinging my head around, I realize that everything is wrong. The trees look twisted, the plants are purple and what looks like giant purple clover has replaced the grass. The thing that I woke up in is sitting under a tall, twisted tree, resting against one of it’s giant protruding roots. There’s what looks like a massive glowing mushroom clinging to it’s gnarled trunk.

Looking around, I spot what looks like an oversized ladder brake fern and while I’m grateful that it’s not purple, I’m not comforted by the fact that it’s blue and the edges of the leaves are glowing. Next to that is a plant that looks like giant dandelion but crossed with a palm tree? I feel myself leaning over the edge, trying to look closer at the confusing flora when I feel the the same odd tugging but this time not from my hand or arm.

Glancing down toward my legs, I pray that the feeling isn’t what I think it is. My prayers go unanswered. It’s exactly what I think it is. There’s a tube disappearing up my legs and under what looks like a hospital gown. It’s a catheter. That’s when the panic comes rushing back. What happened to me? Where am I? Why are there tubes in my skin? Why are the plants fucked up?

With my anxiety and panic skyrocketing, I reach for the tube in my left elbow and pull on it as hard as I can. I cry out as it tears at the surrounding skin and starts to leak blood onto my pale blue hospital gown. I keep pulling though until my skin releases it and it slides out of my arm. The end of it leaks the remnants a clear fluid that was in there onto my gown, mixing with my blood as soon as they touch. I don’t wait to see it happen though. I’m already tearing at the other one, feeling a searing pain as it leaves my body. I’m crying and sobbing and I press the heels of my hands into my eyes and bring my knees up to my chest. My sobs are quiet though, my throat still too dry to allow anything else.

The pain in my wounds helps ground me and I slowly calm down to the point of being able to think again. I can still feel the panic though, just on the edge of my mind, ready to rush in. I sniffle and wipe my nose with the loose sleeve of my gown, smearing mucus along the pale blue. I bring my hands to the sides of the container once more, pushing myself up onto my knees. I gently tug at the tube between my legs, trying to dislodge it from it’s position. I’m very thankful and let out a sob when it moves a little, not fused with my skin like the others. I tug a bit harder and with a bit of pain, the tube comes out. I immediately drop it and scoot away to the other end of my bed the bed thing.

My wounds continue to drip blood onto the rubbery mattress beneath me as I try to think about the last thing that I remember. The far off sound of trickling water and what sounds like a frog help calm my mind as I delve into my memories. I remember eating Christmas dinner with my family, all of us wearing those tacky paper hats out of the bonbons, telling the terrible Christmas jokes to each other, seeing who has the worst. My mind flashes forward as this was not the last thing I had done.

I remember sitting on the couch at my brothers house, holding onto my nephew as he watched cartoons with me. David, my brother, was at work until late and his wife was always away visiting her mother so he’d asked me to come over to look after Tyler, my nephew. I loved that boy. He was a miracle baby after so many years of my brother trying for a child. David was 42 by the time Tyler was born. This still isn’t my most recent memory though.

My mind flashes to a rock climbing trip I’d been on with my younger sister and her husband. We weren’t anywhere special, just a national park near our home town. I remember Olivia, my sister, slipping on the rock and getting a bad scrape on her shin. She insisted on finishing the climb, despite Gabriel, her husband, and I insisting that we take her home. That wasn’t my most recent memory though. There’s something else. I try to think harder but whatever I was about to remember was interrupted when I heard something.

Opening my eyes, I snap my head over towards a group of shrubs, where I heard the sound. There’s a slight rustle in the leaves and I hear… a snuffle? Eyes widening, I jump over the side of the container, knees buckling, and land in the upturned earth next to it. I peek over the side of the container, back at the bushes. The leaves are still rustling but now it’s happening in more than one place. I crouch a little lower, feeling the dirt on my bare feet, and squint to try and see a little better.

That’s when the first one pokes it’s nose out of the shrubs and all the blood drains from my face. It looks like a dog but huge, muscled and covered in scales and spikes. It sniffs the air as it’s pack mates begin to creep out of the bushes with it. I glance around the area for anything that may have attracted them when I feel a drop on my thigh and freeze. It was my blood. They were here because they could smell me.


	2. Dog Legs

She glanced at the ground, trying to spot the demon dogs on the forest floor below. She couldn’t see them but that didn’t mean that they weren’t there. She’d learnt the hard way that they could turn invisible. At the thought of the invisible lizard dogs, she clutched her injured calf. She’d tried climbing down earlier, when she thought they were gone, and got a claw to the leg. Thankfully, it wasn’t too deep.

Squinting at the ground for any movement in the odd clover grass, she adjusted herself on the branch she was perched on. She’d been up here for a few hours, checking periodically for the beasts. They’d spotted her as she was climbing the closest tree she could sprint to and had been growling and barking for a while. They’d abruptly disappeared, and she’d thought that she could climb down. She’d learnt her lesson.

Not spotting any movement, she let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. It had started to rain about 20 minutes ago, but the odd trees leaves sheltered her from the water. She had gone higher to catch some of the rain to relieve her dry throat, but she’d only been able to gather mere drops and gave up. As gross as it was, she could see a rather tempting puddle on the ground.

Laura leaned against the trunk, arms wrapped around her legs, thankful that whatever hellscape she was currently in was warm at least. It made it quite humid but that was the least of her problems right now. Eyes darting around the small clearing below her, she felt them often returning to the puddle. The delicious looking, somewhat cloudy puddle.

“20 more minutes.” She rasped to herself. “If I don’t see any movement in 20 minutes, I’ll climb down.” She clenched her fingers tighter onto her knees.

20 minutes came and went, and Laura couldn’t see any movement except for the pitter patter of the rain hitting the ground.

“This is a bad idea.” She whispered to herself as she began lowering herself from her branch. 

“Terrible.” She was about halfway to the ground by now.

“So stupid.” Her bare feet landed in the soft mud at the base of the tree, squishing through her toes.

Spinning around, she heard nothing that sounded like the lizard dogs from before. Carefully, she inched her way forward. Nothing came rushing out of nothing to attack her though, so she took a full step. Then another and another before crouching down next to the puddle she’d been eyeing. Keeping her eyes on the shrubs and bushes surrounding her, she dipped her cupped hands just over the surface of the water, careful not to disturb the dirt. Lifting her hands, she drank greedily, and water dripped down her chin. After 3 or so mouthfuls, she was feeling better.

With a heavy breath, she turned toward the machine she’d woken up in. She knew it was a machine as she’d had time to look at and study it from her higher position. From above, she could see the whole thing. It was shaped kind of like a greyish submarine with a flat bottom. The side that was facing her had what looked like buttons on it and little blinking lights. A lot of them were flashing red and the rest weren’t flashing at all. There were also wires sticking out of torn apart metal with jagged edges. There were patches of what looked like lava? There were scorched and glowing red, stretching over the whole thing.

It had seen better days. It was scuffed and broken but from what, she didn’t know. There was what looked like a drag mark that went a few metres but disappeared into nothing, like the machine had fallen off the back of a truck. There were no tire marks around though. In fact, she couldn’t see much of anything beyond her little clearing of weird purple plants. She could see a patch of sky but hadn’t seen any planes fly by.

Pushing her shaggy, damp auburn hair away from her face, she got to her feet and tiptoed her way over. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and ran it over a few of the buttons lining the thing. There were only 5 and none of them seemed to do anything. Crouching down, she peeked into a particularly large hole, careful to avoid the sharp metal edges. It was dark inside, but she could see various bits of machinery like circuit boards, bundles of wire and plastic boxes that they fed into. Laura also spotted a few of the thin plastic tubing that was in her skin earlier.

A far-off rumble of thunder had her turning away and facing the sky. She could see a few wispy patches of cloud making their way over her. Feeling rather numb after all the excitement after waking up, she thought about what she would usually do in a situation like this and set herself into motion.

Ryder POV

Walking through the foliage of Havarl, shotgun at the ready, Scott Ryder once again cursed the rain. His suit and helmet stopped him from getting wet, but he was getting a little annoyed by the constant need to wipe water from his visor.

“You ok there, Pathfinder?” Came the amused voice of Cora. Glancing over, Ryder could see the mirth in her eyes.

“Fine.” With an annoyed sigh, he wiped his visor once again. “Just hate the rain. We never had it on the Citadel.”

“Water rain ain’t so bad.” Chimed in Liam from his other side. “Trying to pull someone out from under a collapsed ceiling with a burst sewage pipe overhead is balls.”

“How many times has this happened to you?” Ryder was a tad incredulous and definitely disgusted.

“Once are too many times, Pathfinder.” He sounded haunted.

“Yeah but from the sounds of it-” Ryder was cut off suddenly by a sharp hiss from Cora.

“Bridge is in sight.”

Crouching down, Ryder took a few quick steps forward and took cover behind a nearby rock, glancing over to make sure his squad did the same.

Seeing his squad in cover, Ryder turned back to face the bridge. He could see at least 7 Angara and by the colours and armour they wore, he could tell were Roekaar. Probably not gonna be friendly but he’d have to try. Past them, he could see the bridge. He’d come across it before when heading into the chasm but this time, it was fixed, and he could see a path to the other side.

“Okay, here’s the plan. I’m gonna talk to them.” Not giving them a chance to disagree, he stood up. They tried anyway.

“Pathfinder!”

“Ryder!”

They were both cut off as bullets started to bounce off Ryder’s barrier. Quickly ducking back into cover, Ryder waited for his shields to replenish.

“We just wanna talk!” He shouted over the sound of bullets ricocheting off stone.

“I don’t think they care!” Liam shouted back, letting off a couple of rounds.

“Plan B!” Ryder shouted, leaning out of cover to get a clear line of sight. Time seemed to slow around him as he felt a power build up inside of him and a purple glow surrounded him. He focused on a Roekaar that was standing behind cover and released the energy. Next thing he saw was the Roekaar fly away from him as he biotically charged him. Spinning in place, he focused on the next enemy, putting his hand in front of him, it awash with purple, and he picked the Angara up and threw him into another enemy. They both went hurtling over the edge of the chasm.

Pivoting, Ryder let of a shotgun round into the first Roekaar who was just managing to find his feet. Hearing, and feeling, what sounded like simultaneous and very close explosions, Ryder turned to see both Liam and Cora straightening up from their own attacks, all enemy’s dead.

“Good work, guys.” He checked on the heatsink in his shotgun. “Plan B was a success yet again.”

“Why is it called Plan B?” Asked Liam, who was giving his gauntlets a once over. “We always end up going with Plan B first.”

“That’s a good point.” Ryder turned back to the bridge, seeing Roekaar moving into cover across the other side. “One I will take under advisement once we’re finished here and back on the Tempest.”

“We’re with you, Pathfinder.” Spoke Cora, conviction clear in her voice.

With that, they stepped onto the bridge.

Laura POV

She could hear them getting closer. She was running out of the food paste stuff again and had tried to sneak in and steal from the dog legged people again to get more but one had seen her. She wasn’t expecting the response that her presence had caused. She’d done this a few times over the last couple of months she’d been stuck here as she didn’t know what was safe the eat around here.

She’d first spotted the dog legged people not long after the first storm had passed. She had wandered out of the cave she had found and heard speaking. It was in a language she wasn’t familiar with, but it was still people. She was lucky, in a way, by being fearful of the invisible lizard dogs. Just in case on was around, she hadn’t run toward the voices. Instead, she crept carefully through the brush until she saw a flash of orange. She’d started speaking to them, calling out loudly and taking a few steps forward when she noticed that they weren’t human.

The thing she noticed first was their heads. They were all wearing helmets, but they still didn’t look right. The shape was wrong, too big and too round. Next were their hands. They all had what looked like weapons but that’s not what she was focused on. The fingers weren’t right, but she didn’t dwell on that long because she caught sight of the legs. The joints were backwards or bent or something. They look like they come from a dog and the feet from a frog.

At that point they’d caught sight of her and chased her through the jungle for the next hour until she managed to lose them by leading them into a group of lizard dogs and climbing up a vine into a small hidden divot in what looked like a black metal wall.

That was her first encounter with the Roekaar. She came out of the encounter worse for wear but at least she wasn’t dead. That may not hold true for the current encounter. Once she’d been spotted, a call went out and what looked like every person in the camp came out of the small group of buildings, weapons at the ready. She tried to run away but there was already one behind her. That’s when she realized that it was a trap. After that, they’d herded her deeper into their camp.

Right now, she was in a back corner and cowering behind a low rock wall. The ground around her was wet and turning into mud very quickly. The rain had stopped not too long ago though. They seemed to enjoy this as instead of all rushing her at once, they were taking pot shots every time she poked her head out. She screamed once and actually heard them laugh.

They’d been here for around half an hour now, in a strange stand-off, no one doing any real damage. She’d taken a couple of shots at them when she heard them reload. They seemed to bounce off an invisible force field surrounding each of them individually. She’d encountered this before. If she were at a longer range, she’d use the bigger gun she currently had strapped to her back. Being so close though, it was just in the way.

She had a plan though. Fiddling around with the damp bag at her waist, she peeked out around the rock, flinching back when a bullet bounced off, uncomfortably close. She finally found what she was looking for and pulled a little round, canister thing out. From what she could tell, it seemed to be what the others used as bullets instead of you know, actual bullets. She’d learned a trick with them a while back. When shot or they got too hot, they exploded. It was only a small explosion, but it was still enough to kill someone. They were also rather caustic.

Sticking her arm over the rock wall, she took some pot shots at them, hoping it was enough to keep them at bay. She pulled back, stuck her pistol in a make shift holster, and pulled out her rifle. She knew it was a rifle of some description, but she wasn’t sure what kind. She was leaning heavily toward sniper though. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself for what may be the last thing she ever does.

“Ok,” Laura breathed. “One.” She wiped her moist palms on her stolen pants then squeezed her fingers around the barrel.

“Two,” She tensed, ready to spring into action.

“Three,” Just as she went to throw the canister, she heard something. Shouting across the camp, toward the stairs. At first, she thought that maybe the lizard dogs were attacking again, as they were prone to do, but she heard other voices. Voices she could understand. There was a rush of feet behind her as most of her tormenters decided to join the action on the far side of camp. Sensing her opportunity, she pounced. Pulling her arm back, she tossed the canister at the closest enemy.

She looked down the sight and pulled the trigger. She watched at the green flames surrounded it. It didn’t even have enough time to even scream before it was unmoving on the ground. Wasting no time, she pulled her pistol back out and shot at the next closest. It had been standing too close to the other and his force field had protected him from the brunt of the flames but luckily for her, he was slightly singed and trying to put out any lingering embers. He didn’t see as she took careful aim and shot him straight in the side of the head. He lay twitching for just a moment.

Looking around, Laura saw that everyone else had gone toward the far off but getting closer fire fight. Taking the momentary reprieve, she popped the used canister out of her rifle and put a fresh one in. Then, she headed toward the shooting.

 

Ryder POV

The fight across the bridge had been an easy one, mostly just foot soldiers and a single sharpshooter. Heading across the patch of wilderness toward where he knew the Roekaar compound had just been annoying. The rain had stopped but the challyrion wouldn’t leave them alone. Once they’d dealt with one pack, another popped up that decided that they’d make lunch of the Pathfinder squad too.

Once they were about 100 metres from Roekaar camp though, they seemed to disappear. Probably had something to do with the multiple sharpshooters currently taking shots at them. Who knows?

“Hey, Pathfinder!” Liam called out as he laid down suppressing fire. “I see a problem with your current squad!”

“Is this really the time, Liam?” Shouted Cora as she managed to take out a raider who was trying to make it down the stairs.

“Just thought he should know!” A sharpshooter fell to the combined fire of Liam and Ryder.

“Your concern for the wellbeing of the party is commendable, Liam!” Another raider went down as they charged up the stairs to the higher level. “Let’s talk about it later though! Kinda busy!”

“You’re the boss!” They’d moved up close enough for Liam to havoc strike an unlucky saboteur, who hadn’t dropped yet. Ryder couldn’t charge yet, and Cora was too far away to help so the best he could do was keep shooting while Liam backed up. Suddenly, the armoured Roekaar’s head exploded.

It was sudden because Liam was reloading, Ryder was shooting it in the chest and Cora was taking shots at a sharpshooter. Unless Angara spontaneously explode, which made him think anxiously about Jaal for a moment, it wasn’t them that did it. To his left, a raider went down in much the same fashion. Ryder heard the shot this time though. Taking cover behind a barrier, he took the chance to reload and sweep the area.

A rather loud explosion to his right made him turn his attention back to the fight. It looked like an incendiary canister just went off, catching 2 Roekaar in the attack. They both stumbled out of cover, frantically patting the flames out and he took the opportunity to shotgun them both. He had to dive back into cover though as a sharpshooter who had managed to find a perch high up in a tree shot at him. His shields blocked it, but it had been close.

“Sniper, up high!” Ryder called, hearing his squad jump into cover as another shot rang out. It pinged off the ground near Cora this time.

“Does anyone have eyes on them?” Liam called out. Ryder grabbed a stick from the ground, sticking it up out of cover. A loud bang and a jarring motion had him bringing it back down, but the entire top half was just gone. Ryder tossed the stick over the left side of his cover and quickly poked his head out, trying to get a glimpse of the shooter. His eyes swept over the area, seeing the orange uniform of the Roekaar sniper. He also caught something that he wasn’t quite expecting.

Just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, he stuck his head out once more. What he was seeing was indeed real. Ryder stood up then, staring at the sniper’s perch. The sniper wasn’t taking shots at the obvious target right now as he was currently occupied.

There was a woman on the sharpshooters back. A human woman. Ryder realised he should be doing something at about the same time as when Cora sidled up next to him, taking aim.

“No!” He pushed her pistol down. “You might hit her!”

It was in the next moment that something horrible happened. The human woman had her arms locked around the Angara’s neck and he was thrashing about trying to dislodge her. Her legs were flailing around and kicking as she tried to stay on. Her left leg connected with the trunk of one of Havarl’s gnarled trees. She swung her other leg around to join her left and planted them both before kicking off as hard as she could. It was enough force to force the Roekaar to take a step forward.

However, there was nothing to step onto. His arms windmilled for a moment as he tipped right over. He fell from his perch, the woman still clinging to him, out of view. They all heard the thud as the hit the ground.

Bringing his shotgun up, Ryder started to move forward, signalling Cora and Liam to follow. Moving between buildings and around cover, they silently made there way to where they had seen them fall. Ryder saw them first. The Roekaar was obviously dead, his neck bent at an unusual angle. The woman was face down in the dirt, long auburn hair covering her features. Using the tip of his boot, Ryder turned her over. She limply flopped onto her back and the extent of her injuries was revealed.

There was a gash somewhere in her hairline that was quickly leaking blood down her dirty skin. There were cuts and bruises on her exposed arms, some looked old and some looked fresh. She was wearing a stained shirt that looked way too big on her and a pair of knee length orange pants. She didn’t have shoes, but she did have what appeared to be dark strips of fabric wound around each foot and halfway up her calf. She had the same fabric wound up to her elbows from her fingertips. There was a bag around her waist that looked empty and a makeshift holster made from vines with it.

With her eyes closed, he had no idea what colour they were. Her features looked soft, long lashes and full lips that looked pretty, even under all the dirt.

“Call the Tempest for an emergency medical extraction.” Ryder gave the order, needing to know who this woman was. “Liam stay with her. Cora, with me. We still have a job to finish.”

“Yes, Pathfinder.” Both chimed in, Liam already contacting the Tempest.


End file.
